Ministry slashes telemarketing scam cases by 80 percent

The number of reported telemarketing scam cases decreased by 80 percent in 2016, Minister of Industry and Information Technology Miao Wei said on Sunday.

In 2016 all new cellphone users were registered using their real names, and more than 120 million previous users entered the real-name system, Miao said.

The ministry also established a verification mechanism and screening in certain provinces, netting more than 173 million telemarketing scam messages per month.

"The ministry has preliminary curbed the growing momentum of telemarketing scams," said Miao, adding that from the start to end of last year the number of reported telemarketing scam cases decreased by 80 percent.

Last year the ministry took down 1,753 phone-number changing software that could potentially be used in telemarketing scams, Miao said. The ministry also terminated more than 700,000 phones involved in telemarketing scams, he added.

This year the ministry will add more technical infrastructure and mechanisms in all provinces and international gateways, "to prevent telemarketing scams from both within and overseas," Miao said.

"I believe through various methods, the growing momentum of telemarketing scams will be effectively suppressed," he said.